Hello!

Recently I discovered the beauty of thrifting and upcycling clothes. It is not just easy way to find extraordinary fashion for less, it is also a way how to help save our planet. In this project I decided to transform my thirfted man shirt into a woman dress. Wonder how? Let me show you.

What you'll need:

○ sewing machine (if you don't have one you can try handsewing but it will take like 4 days)

○ buttons, needle and thread

○ scissors and marker (I used dry pastel)

○ sewing pins

○ shirt (can be woman but make sure it is long enough)

○ mood (the most important thing!)

Step 1: Measuring & Drawing

I simply draw the straight line right under the neck line and cut off the sleeves. make sure you do not throw them away, we will need them later.

Step 2: More Measuring

After I cut off the line I draw some more lines to try to create required shape of the dress. Measurements were 30cm at the top, 24cm by the sides and 7cm next to 90 degree angle.

This created arc line from first mark to the third one. Finally from third mark I draw the line as wid as possible to create A line of the dress. Then I cut everything by the line.

Step 3: Cutting the Back Part

Our shirt is two-piece dress now and I adjusted the back piece to look like triangle. First measure and draw the line, then cut it with the scissors.

Step 4: Overcasting

I overcasted the dress for protection of the fabric to prevent from falling apart. Then I went ahead and folded and pin the fabric of the front piece so it would look neat and professional (btw clearly I'm not a professional :D).

Next I sewed it with the sewing machine.

Step 5: Pockets

For creating pockets I used the fabric from former sleeves of the shirt. You can make whatever size you want but I worked with measurements 25x18cm, draw the line and again cut it with scissors.

Step 6: More of the Pocket Surgery

Overcasting pockets is really important because you don't want to feel the threads come out form inside of your pocket. So I overcasted it with sewing machine, pin the fabric back and sewed it together again.

Step 7: Connecting the Pockets

To connect pockets to the front piece of the dress I used pins and then I went and sewed it together and I tried to sew by line so it wasn't ugly. Make sure that you don't sew diagonal side od the pockets. If you do, the purpose of the pockets would be gone :D

Step 8: Sew It Together!

There is only back piece left to pin and sew with the sewing machine. So after that, I took both pieces and pin it together and after sewing that it finally creates one piece.

Step 9: Straps

From fabric of the second sleeve I draw lines 5cm wide to create straps. Lenghts depends, I went with as long as possible. After that I pin the rectangles together (wrong side out) and sew them to make them longer.

Step 10: Finishing Straps

I fold the fabric, pin and sew it wrong side out, and then I pulled it inside out (takes like forever). Next to attach straps to the rest of the dress I (again) pin and sew it with sewing machine by the line.

Step 11: Buttons

From all the buttons that my mom collected I picked out two big black ones. I made a hole with scissors and overcasted it by handsewing. In that phase I found out that I need to sew some more buttons so the dress wouldn't be unpresentable. For that I was thrilled to find buttons from the sleeves. I sewed one button to the top of the dress and the second one to the bottom.

Step 12: Attaching Buttons

I went ahead and tried out the dress to find perfect place for my buttons. I marked it with pin and then handsewed the buttons to their place.

Step 13: Final Adjustments

After trying the dress again I wanted them to be more tight so I flipped them inside out and pin it on body. Then I sewed it for the last time and finally, it fits perfectly!